Alchemy of Presence
Workshops in Biodynamic Awareness
with Jenna Kit Milner

Alchemy of Presence trainings augment your capacity for embodying stillness, presence and perception, whether for personal growth or clinical work.

Many wisdom traditions describe four “worlds” or layers of reality. In Alchemy of Presence classes, you explore these four worlds by learning to feel associated tones, rhythms, textures, and dispositions in the body. This perceptual process requires that you be seated in your body, with your awareness sufficiently embodied and expanded to encompass each increasingly potent domain. In the presence of Stillness and being with what is, transformation occurs—for you, and for those around you.

Biodynamic Craniosacral Work forms the basis of our theory and practice. This work arose from osteopathic medicine, and the clinical applications are profound, even in this non-medical approach. While this work will impact any healing art that you practice, it has also benefited practitioners’ own health, meditation practice, self-knowledge, personal evolution, and relationships with other people, animals, and nature. It has wide-ranging effects, because it taps the potency of stillness, which is the source of all healing, growth and development.

The practitioner’s state of consciousness is the basis for expanded awareness and physiological change in the client. Therefore, practitioners place great attention on self-preparation. We may spend years cultivating the discipline, equanimity, and refined perceptual skills required to master this practice. Experiential mentorship is invaluable.

See details below for three Alchemy of Presence formats:
The Stillness Within (a three-day introduction)
One Heart (16 days over two years)
The Apprenticeship (further supervision and peer support toward mastery and self-knowledge)

THE STILLNESS WITHIN
A Three-Day Introduction to 
Alchemy of Presence

This Alchemy of Presence class is an introduction to Biodynamic Craniosacral Work, open to lay people as well as those in the healing arts. lnstead of focusing on fixing problems, Biodynamic Craniosacral Work helps you to perceive health and to enhance it in yourself and in others. It’s possible to encourage the inherent ability to heal and evolve.

The Biodynamic approach is one of being with, not doing to. The treatment follows the body’s natural inclinations, sequence, and timing, so healing arises effortlessly. The work facilitates deep rest, transformation, and unsurpassed activation of healing potential. It feels great both to give and to receive it.

In this class, we will emphasize the “Neutral,” which is the portal of stillness through which healing and evolutionary intelligence enter. Through meditation, movement, lecture, exchanges with partners, and discussion, you will:

• Cultivate a body-felt awareness of what a Neutral feels like—in your own body, in someone else’s body, and in the environment.
• Receive tools to help quiet your mind and to perceive or develop the Midline.
• Refine awareness of embodied states of consciousness.
  
• Be introduced to key features of the biodynamic map, including the Midline, the Neutral, Stillpoint, Fluid Tide, Long Tide, and the Dynamic Stillness.
• Learn how the biodynamic lineage fits into the paradigm of craniosacral work.

This class can be powerful on its own or it can be supplemented with a broader two-year curriculum (One Heart) and a further Apprenticeship (see below).

Previous Participants Comment:

Jenna in her brilliance teaches us about the stillness underlying all true healing.

This spoke to my heart deeply. All that is present for me now—in my work, in my spiritual journey, in my life—came together with this material.

Presented with sincerity, excitement, awe & respect that was contagious...beautiful!

Instructor Instructor Jenna Milner is a licensed massage therapist with a full-time private practice in Ithaca, NY. She has been a student of craniosacral work since 1997, and joyfully found her calling in the biodynamic lineage in 2002. Her teaching draws on an extensive background in yoga, meditation, and healing arts.

“Biodynamic Craniosacral Work has sensitized me to a level of perception that is missing from technique-oriented programs. It has revolutionized my professional practice, helped me understand the nature of healing, and allowed me to relax more. I love sharing my passion for this work!”

Upcoming Classes  Tutorials (2-person “duets” in a private setting) and Classes (small groups in a retreat setting) are held at least once per year. Please inquire by email (jmilner@alum.swarthmore.edu) or telephone (607-273-3842) regarding groups in formation.

Location  Ithaca, NY

Prerequisite  Ability to be still for 35 minutes.
(Bodywork or meditation experience helpful.)

Cost  $395

To Enroll  or for more information, email or call Jenna at (607) 273-3842.

ONE HEART
A Two-Year Training In
Alchemy Of Presence Fundamentals

Join a small, committed group for a two-year course of study. You can expect to:

1. Widen and refine your perceptual field so that you can begin to perceive health and wholeness.
2. Recognize the power of being rather than doing.
   
3. Engage the potency of Fluid Tide and Long Tide (and possibly the Dynamic Stillness) ~ which necessarily means that you will be able to sense and support fluid movement, bioelectric movement, and stillness.
   
4. Develop awareness of and sensitivity to new channels of information and layers of consciousness. Eventually, gain the ability to be moved by instinctual wisdom, rather than led by your mind or will.
5. Explore specific body-felt dispositions and experiences, and study a related conceptual paradigm, which are rooted in Biodynamic Craniosacral Work. These concepts, experiences, and dispositions include: the Neutral, Stillpoint, the Midline, Fluid Tide, Long Tide, and the Dynamic Stillness.
6. Become aware of parallels between Biodynamic Craniosacral Work and other wisdom traditions.

While the clinical applications and repercussions are profound, this class requires no craniosacral background and will not teach you to be a craniosacral practitioner. We will neither intentionally work with the cranial wave, nor will we learn to find and fix lesions in the craniosacral system. As appropriate, you will be offered basic craniosacral anatomy for precision of hand contacts at the midline. However, the emphasis will be on touching the body as consciousness itself.

Intended for healing arts practitioners seeking greater awareness and effectiveness; and for meditators who have a body!

Location  Ithaca, NY

Dates  
November 2010 (Enrollment Closed)
December 2012 (Projected Start Date)

Prerequisite  Participation in The Stillness Within.

Cost  16 days plus four private mentor sessions $2780.

To Enroll  or for more information, email or call Jenna at (607) 273-3842.

THE APPRENTICESHIP

A masterful and nuanced understanding of this work usually takes many years to achieve, and it’s essential to have supervision and peer support on the way. The Apprenticeship, then, is a Three Year Support Curriculum for graduates of One Heart who want to refine their perceptual skills and understanding of Biodynamic Craniosacral Work in a more clinical context; and those who wish to dive further into the biodynamic map than is possible in the foundational curriculum.

This core group will meet formally at least once a year for three days. There will also be periodic day-long meetings on Saturdays or Sundays (to include lecture or discussion plus a biodynamic exchange with a partner), mentoring sessions with Jenna, and a suggested schedule of peer exchanges and reading assignments. Details to be arranged.

Location  Ithaca, NY

Dates  Set communally by the group.

Prerequisite Participation in One Heart.

Cost  TBD

To Enroll  or for more information, email or call Jenna at (607) 273-3842.